Larceny Law

Specific Intent Crime

Larceny is categorized as a specific intent crime.  This means that in order for the prosecution to prove the charge of larceny, the prosecution must prove the person specifically intended something.  As compared to Battery, which is a general intent crime, the prosecution does not have to prove any specific intent.  With larceny, that specific intent is to permanently deprive the person of that property.  Therefore, the prosecution must prove that when the person stole the item, he or she did so with the intent to permanently deprive the person of the property.

Slight Movement is Enough

One does not have to completely remove the item in order for there to be a larceny.  Movement, no matter how slight, of the object will qualify as a larceny, provided that the person had the specific intent of permanently depriving the person of that property.  For example, if someone picks up an object simply to look it and then puts it back down then there is no larceny.  However, if the person picks up the object with the intent to permanently deprive the owner of the property but puts the object back down because he heard someone approaching, then a larceny has occurred.  That is because the person moved the item (by picking it up) and did so with the intent to permanently deprive the owner of that property.  It does not matter that the person put the object back down; the larceny was complete once he picked it up with the intent to permanently deprive the owner of it.